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A 5-minute video shown on an iPod at the department of motor vehicles may help increase the number of organ donors, researchers found.

Participants who viewed the video, which addresses some common concerns about organ donation, were more likely to agree to be a donor than those who did not see the video, according to J. Daryl Thornton, MD, MPH, of MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, and colleagues.

The intervention also had positive effects on perceptions of organ donation, the researchers reported in the April 3 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Because tens of millions of Americans obtain driver's licenses annually, this approach has the potential to substantially increase the number of potential organ donors," they wrote, noting that the gap between the supply and demand for organs is widening, particularly among ethnic minority groups.

The researchers designed a 5-minute video that addressed the following common concerns about organ donation:

Desire to not think about death and subsequent disfigurement

Concern that organ donors will not receive full life-saving measures if they are carrying a donor card

Distrust of the medical establishment

Belief that religion may not support donation

Desire to be buried with organs intact

Lack of knowledge about the need for organs

At 12 branches of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) located within 25 miles of downtown Cleveland, the researchers conducted a study that included 952 English-speaking individuals ages 15 to 66 who were applying for a new license, permit, or identification card and who had not previously consented to being an organ donor.

The research staff approached individuals outside of each branch; 443 were shown the video on an iPod and 509 were not. All participants were asked to show whether they had elected to be an organ donor when they left the branch.

The average age of the participants was 24 in the video group and 25 in the control group. Overall, 91 percent reported that BMV staff asked them about organ donation.

Watching the video was associated with an increase in the proportion of individuals who elected to become an organ donor among both whites (88 percent versus 77 percent) and blacks (76 percent versus 54 percent). There were few Hispanic participants, but the effect trended in the same direction in that subgroup.

Participants in the video group also were less likely to report having insufficient information about organ donation (34 percent versus 44 percent), wanting to be buried with all of their organs (14 percent versus 25 percent), and having conflicts with organ donation (7 percent versus 11 percent).

There were, however, no differences between the groups in the percentage of individuals who trusted that their organs would be allocated fairly or who had concerns that carrying a donor card would lead to inadequate medical care.

The researchers noted that the major limitation with the study is that it remains unknown whether the increased consent to become a donor would have any effect on the organ supply in the region.

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